Kawika Emsley-Pai

Kawika Kualii Hoapili Emsley-Pai

• Bats Both, Throws Right
• Height 5' 11", Weight 195 lbs.
• School University of Texas at Austin, Lewis-Clark State College
• High School Henry M. Jackson High School
• Born September 3, 1988 in Bothell, WA USA

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Biographical Information

Kawika Emsley-Pai started his college baseball career at the University of Texas at Austin but did not play much as a freshman. He then transferred to Lewis-Clark State College for the next two seasons. His success there led the Arizona Diamondbacks to draft Emsley-Pai in the 10th round of the 2010 amateur draft. He played just one year in the Diamondbacks minor league system before spending the remaining years of his minor league career (2011-2015) in the Pittsburgh Pirates organization, almost exclusively as a catcher. Overall Emsley-Pai batted .211 with an OBP of .365 and a slugging percentage of .281 in 265 games.

Emsley-Pai moved into the coaching ranks in the summer of 2018 as an assistant coach for the Centralia College Trailblazers. When the head coach left the program early in 2019, Emsley-Pai took over head coaching duties on an interim basis which eventually turned into a permanent role. He stayed at Centralia until March, 2021.

In 2021 the Texas Rangers hired Emsley-Pai as a coach for the Round Rock Express. He was development coach of the Hickory Crawdads in 2022 and Frisco RoughRiders in 2023-2024.

Related Sites

University of Texas at Austin Bio